Do you fear death?

No and no.

I think once a person has spent some time figuring out their place in the universe and their belief (whatever it might be), things settle down.

I figure death will rule one day--but no more--of my life. Don't worry about it--justy take sensible precautions and enjoy what you have.

(19!! Have fun, dear!!)

Thanks guys!Yes you are right.

It is scary to contemplate, sometimes, but it's not something I contemplate very often.

Can any of you remember when, more or less, you first felt you understood what death was? I can't remember any specific moment, personally. My grandfather passed away when I was very young, but it didn't really register because I barely knew him. My earliest memory of death-related fears, of the kind that kept me up at night, had to do with war. Not any war in particular, though I grew up in the shadow of Reagan's "Star Wars," but I seem to remember having sleepless nights as a kid, digesting what it would mean to be in a war.

Since I am going to hell, yes.

You came with nothing & you go with nothing.
So nothing to fear!

Go in peace ....

When I think about it it really scares me.Not necessarily the dying bit but how will I die.

I was watching a report this morning on a young pilot that died in a crash on his first solo flight.He didnt know that flight would be his journey to death.
Its so sad.
I often wonder if my journey too and from work will be the one to 'get me'.

Just live your life to the fullest every day and there will be no regret.
That means, what will you do now if you are going to died tomorrow.

Think about it.

Yes, I fear death. I don't think about it a lot, though.

I noticed a few things for myself. I fear death more when I feel less loving/loved. I fear death more when I have been away from it, or snuggled up in lazy complacency and not taking the risks I need to.

Instead of 'star wars', it was seeing the Gulf War on television that got me thinking about large scale death and the possibility of ME dying.

Later, when I actually encountered death in my own experience (others dying who were part of my life), it shook my sense of security about the world to my core. I knew I would die too, someday.

We are deeply self-absorbed creatures, in a way.

Maybe this is scarier than dieing.
Ive thought about the above question and to tell you the honest truth I havnt a clue what Id do.
What could I do?Id have to be off work everyday to go and do anything of any worth.Id have little or no money because of it.There isnt that much that I can think of that excites me enough to do anything about it.
Maybe im dead already but nobody has told me.

Horrid story-
A friend of a friend bought his dream car around Christmas last year, a bunch of friends including him were at a meal and he said 'thats the car Im going to die in'.On New Years Eve he had a car accident in that car and died about a week later.

I don't feat death as much as getting old.
And the age itself is not the threatening thing.
If I knew I was going to be fit, I would not care so much, but watching this old relative living in an old people's home, hardly able to move and speak and with every now and then a sign that his mind is still in there somewhere...
That scares the **** out of me!

No, I don't fear death -- but I'm not so crazy about the dying part.

This is my fear. A stroke that will leave me unable to kill myself--and my children horrified with what's happened to me--their long journey to my death. They are so tenderhearted, and they love me so much more than I deserve.

A severe stroke. I wouldn't want to stay through Alzheimer's, either, but you have a warning with Alzheimer's, and MS and some other slowly debilitating diseases. You have time to get things situated and choose your time of departure.

Strokes catch you unaware.

No nursing home.

I think those existences are worse than death.

I find the idea of Alzheimer's rather horrifying.

What comforts me in spite of the prospect of old age (should I be so lucky), and in spite of death, is the chance that at the end of a fulfilling life I will have memories and a belief that I took advantage of most opportunities to pursue the things I found meaningful--relationships, artistic endeavours, etc.

Tibetan Buddhists spend a lifetime preparing for death, and this involves the practice of emptying one's mind--but that in itself requires the mind to act.

What I'm getting at is, a scrambled, unreliable mind addled by Alzheimer's, I think, deprives one of these comforts. A great uncle of mine, I remember, would ask his nurses where his wife was. They would tell him the truth, almost every day, that she was dead. So, until the nurses wisely decided to lie to him and say she was out shopping, every day was the day his wife died.

Yikes.

Gargamel--



That made my eyes fill. I wouldn't have thought of it that way.

Thanks. I'll remember it if anyone I love needs a kinder explanation one day.

The only time you will get a completely truthful answer to this question...

...is it you ask it of a person who is clutching his/her chest in obvious pain while you are asking it!

I thought scared to die translated to spending time thinking about it--brooding about it, and worried.

Letting it take time from your happiness...

I can attest now that I will not be serene and nonchalant during a heart attack.

Do you fear death?
I don't fear being dead. I fear dying all tubed up in the ICU.

A lady who once lived next door to us died in a nursing home - she had to share her room with another woman (and the room wasn't all that big, either). She wasn't aware, as far as anyone could tell, but I thought it must have been horrible for her daughters to have a stranger sharing their mother's dying. Horrible for the stranger, too.

As far as being death itself is concerned, either it's the complete end - of mind, body, consciousness, everything - or there is some form of life after death. If it's the end, well I won't know about it, so I don't worry. If there's life after death, e.g. heaven, that will be good.

Personally, I believe in heaven and hell - although I was taught that while hell does exist, it is not for us to say who may be there. Perhaps no one except the devil and his minions...

death no...
method yes....
what comes after...possibly